Life Story Work Toolkit

ABSTRACT

The present invention contains a select number of tools appropriate for use in creating life story works with older adults in long-term care facilities. The present invention is a portable, well-organized toolkit providing the user with the necessary tools for capturing and preserving older adults&#39; life stories, photos, and/or memorabilia.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to tools for capturing and creating life story work.

Description of Prior Art

Depression is a major concern for residents of nursing homes. Research has shown that the personalization of interventions that allow autobiographical memories to be explored has had significant effects on decreasing depression and improving the quality of life for older adults.

Life story work has been used in a variety of health-care settings to enable people to share their life stories. The premise of life story work is that each person has a story—a personal story—with people, feelings, insights, learnings, milestones, circumstances, and actions that define who they are. Life story work is intended to allow a person the opportunity to examine their history and capture their life stories into something tangible. This tangible product is a reminder or visual aid of a person's life history. Such products may be in the form of a collage, life story box (containing objects, photographs, and/or documents), digital media format, or a book. It is a concrete, tangible, and ongoing piece of work that can serve to connect an older adult with families and long-term care staff. Life story work involves one person listening (the story catcher) and encouraging another person (the storyteller) to review their life. A life story work typically includes a combination of written material, images of significant individuals, locations or events, and personal memories from the stages of life that the storyteller would like to include. The life story work may be a reminder and/or visual aid of a person's life history.

Older adults in long-term care need to be monitored for any difficulties they may have when creating a life story work or when talking for too long a period of time. A timer may help a story catcher to remain aware and flexible regarding the length of time an older adult is sharing. This may be crucial to adequately accommodate older adults' needs. There is also a need to have interview questions readily available to support the story catcher and encourage the storyteller in sharing their experiences and memories.

A difficulty for many older storytellers is the ability to hear the story catcher. Many older adults in long term care do not have hearing aids so there is a need for a hearing amplifier to assist them in hearing the story catcher's questions. Another difficulty is in the story catcher's ability to hear or understand the storyteller due to any number of factors such as a stroke, lack of teeth, etc. There is a need for a lapel microphone to amplify the storyteller's voice.

The use of an audio recorder to record an older adults' stories frees up a story catcher to attentively listen to a storyteller's stories and respond appropriately. The recordings may be transcribed and created into a life story work. Audio recordings may also help the story catcher to type stories accurately. Adding photos or memorabilia to a life story work usually would entail removing the items from an older adult's room to make a copy or have it scanned. Having a portable scanner accessible to scan precious photos and/or memorabilia, in the presence of the storyteller, would ensure that no photos and/or memorabilia were removed from the storyteller's presence or room.

Residents of long-term care facilities are members of residential communities, so it is often difficult to have privacy. To minimize interruptions while storytelling, a door sign such as “Quiet Please” may bring awareness to other residents and/or staff that story catching was in progress. Long-term care facilities often lack the means to bind the life stories and photos into a cost-effective life story book. Most often the costs to professionally bind a life story book are out of the price range for residents and facilities. An expandable scrapbook album may be a simplified way to construct a life story book. Providing a transcribed audio recording into an electronic format (USB) may also allow an older adult to add to their story book or make additional copies for family members.

In long-term care facilities, one of the difficulties in creating life story work is possessing the necessary tools and then easily transporting those tools between residents and/or facilities. Prior systems for the general purpose of providing a person (story catcher) with the necessary tools for capturing and creating a life story work with an older adult were not available. After conducting a patent search at the “United States Patent and Trademark Office” web site (www.uspto.gov) for the years 1976 to present, I concluded that until this invention a life story work toolkit was not available. What is needed and what this toolkit provides are life story work tools that are useful, well-organized, and transportable to enable a story catcher to create life story works with older adults living in long-term care facilities.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

We have found that it is possible to provide a toolkit that contains or may contain many of the tools necessary to capture and create life story works comprising of two components: a) a multifunction case with a carrying handle, and; b) an array of commercially available tools useful or necessary for capturing and creating life story works. Advantageously, the toolkit can be re-stocked and is convenient for carrying and storing life story work tools. The two components are intended to aid the story catcher in creating a life story work, particularly with older adults living in long-term care facilities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The present invention briefly summarized above will be more fully understood and further benefits will become evident when reference is made to the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention showing the case in the closed position.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention showing the case in the open position containing an assortment of life story work tools contained therein.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention with the opposite side of the case in the open position containing an assortment of life story work tools contained therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, is a perspective view of the life story work toolkit case (2) which comprises of a double-sided, 2-compartment zippered tool case. It has a top panel (3), a base panel (4), two side panels (5), and two face panels (6) (7). The top panel (3), side panels (5), and base panel (4) are generally rectangular and may have a soft side or hard side construction or a combination of both. In the present invention, the embodiment has a double-sided, 2-compartment, zippered tool case; one side's deep compartment is (10) for organizing tools and the other side compartment with a deep pocket (19) for paper and scrapbook storage.

The case can be opened and closed using zippers or any other suitable means to protect the contents of the case when the case is closed and not in use. In the present embodiment the marginal edge of each of the face panels (6) and (7) are opened with zippers. On face panel (6) the perimeter zipper will typically extend around three of the four edges, permitting the face panel to fully fold back to access tools. This is evident in FIG. 2 where face panel (6) is fully folded back. On face panel (7) the perimeter zipper will typically extend across the top and halfway down the side panel edges to access scrapbooks and other tools in the deep pocket (19).

The toolkit of the present invention is preferably made of lightweight material to enable ease of carrying. In the preferred embodiment, a handle (9) is provided on the top which enables the user to carry the kit in a generally horizontal orientation. In another alternative embodiment, the toolkit case can be made with wheels on the base and an extendable handle on the top allowing for wheeled transport of the case.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention showing one face panel (6) of the case in the open position revealing a deep compartment (10) for positioning tools. In another alternative embodiment, the deep compartment can be made with a sectional organizer for containing the tools. In the preferred embodiment of the life story work toolkit invention, the deep compartment (10) has tools positioned to include at least one, but are not limited to, timer (11); audio recorder (12); portable scanner (13); memory card for the scanner (14); USB Flash Drive (15); lapel microphone (16); personal amplifier with earphone and extra headphones (17); and ink pen (18).

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention showing one face panel (7) of the case in the open position having a deep pocket (19) for storing tools positioned to include at least one, but are not limited to, scrapbook album (20); scrapbook clear sheet protector style page (21); 9×12-inch clipboard (22); 8.5×11-inch pad of lined paper (23); “quiet please” door sign (24); list of sample interview questions (25); set of instructions for the suggested utilization of the contents within the case (26). In another alternative embodiment the deep pocket (19) can be made with a filing sleeve which may be removed from the case.

OATH OR DECLARATION Sequence Listing

Not Applicable

CLOSING COMMENT

For the purposes of illustration and description, the preferred embodiment has been illustrated and described above. It is not intended to be exhaustive, nor is it intended to restrict the invention to the particular revealed form. For those skilled in the art, many variations, alternatives, and modifications, which fall within the spirit and score of the appended claims, will be apparent. For instance, the present invention could readily be implemented for any entity, including children, adults living in the community, or any other person for which life stories are desired to be captured and preserved. 

What is claimed is as follows:
 1. A life story work toolkit comprising: a plurality of life story work tools appropriate for use in capturing and creating life story works with older adults; a carrying and storage case configured to hold the said life story work tools; and instructions for the suggested utilization of the contents within the case.
 2. The life story work toolkit according to claim 1, wherein the preferred embodiment of the present invention the plurality of life story work tools comprises: a commercially available timer; a commercially available audio recorder; a commercially available portable scanner; at least one memory card for use in said portable scanner; at least one USB Flash Drive; a commercially available lapel microphone; a commercially available personal amplifier with earphones; at least one ink pen; at least one commercially available scrapbook; at least one scrapbook clear sheet protector style page; at least one 9×12-inch clipboard; at least one 8.5×11-inch pad of lined paper; one “quiet please” door sign; list of sample interview questions.
 3. The life story work toolkit according to claim 1, wherein said carrying and storage case comprising; top panel, base panel, two side panels, and two face panels, with one face panel having three openable side walls, the other face panel having one openable top wall and two side walls that open part way, both said face panels are openable for selective access to the stored tools.
 4. The life story work toolkit according to claim 3, further comprising a carrying handle attached to the top panel.
 5. The life story work toolkit according to claim 1, wherein said instructions comprise information for capturing and creating a variety of life story works so that the users can appropriately use the tools within. 